Browse Items: 18

This 1947 instructional film, produced by Coronet Films, was created in collaboration with the Chicago Parks District. (Note that Lloyd Shaw's Cheyenne Mountain Dancers performed in Chicago in 1939 on their return home from their first trip east. Shaw also made a presentation to American Association for Health, Physicial Education, and Recreation…

This 1969 film was created by Joan Lockhart Bennett as part of her master's degree project for Ilinois State University, Normal, IL.. As an instructional tool this film covers a lot of ground: formation, honors, balance, swing, shoes, walking step, hand positions, posture, circles, dosado, Figure 8, all around left hand lady, weave the ring, grand…

Honor Your Partner was a series of rhythmic activities and dance albums, more than 20 in all, released by Ed Durlacher starting in 1949 and extending into the 1950s. This is the final dance on album 3; the dance introduces a basket figure for two, three, and four couples.

Honor Your Partner was a series of rhythmic activities and dance albums, more than 20 in all, released by Ed Durlacher starting in 1949 and extending into the 1950s. This dance is the final one in Album 2 of the series; it introduces the balance and has all gents active at the same time.

Honor Your Partner was a series of rhythmic activities and dance albums, more than 20 in all, released by Ed Durlacher starting in 1949 and extending into the 1950s. This dance is from Album 1, the first dance in the series with partner changes.

Honor Your Partner was a series of rhythmic activities and dance albums, more than 20 in all, released by Ed Durlacher starting in 1949 and extending into the 1950s. This item shows a sample cover, a listing of the square dance albums, and the back liner notes from the first three square dance albums.

This is the very first dance on the first disk of Ed Durlacher's Honor Your Partner series, an extensive collection of dance and rhythmic music albums that were widely-used in schools. Here, Durlacher introduces a circle dance to teach the concept of partners, do-si-do, swing and promenade. Other albums in the series build to more complex dances.…

"Duck for the Oyster, Dig for the Clams" is surely one of the most common traditional square dance figures. There are many examples of this dance on the SDHP website.
Here it's "Duck for Oysters, Dig for Clams." This clip comes from a series of recordings aimed at elementary school age children. The set was arranged and recorded by Joseph V.…

In the mid-1950s, Janet R. MacLean, a professor in the Indiana University Department of Recreation, produced a series of six instructional films to introduce square dancing. The films, each approximately 10 minutes in length, show young dancers, probably students at the university, demonstrating different dance figures. Dancers wear large numbers…

Article from 1940 promoting the virtues of square dancing and pointing out the necessity of teaching simple dances first. The author suggests:

"The art of imitation must be used in teaching the square. Take the dance apart, bit by bit, and have the group walk through the parts until they know them each by name, and they will gain the thrill that…

Also available elsewhere online.This is the second of two films created by caller Bob Ruff (Whittier, CA) to accompany his record, "The Fundamentals of Square Dancing, Level 1" that in turn is part of a square dance teaching series he created with Jack Murtha. In the film, Ruff teaches 35 basic square dance movements, working with a group of…

Also available elsewhere online: Caller Bob Ruff (Whittier, CA) created this video to accompany his record, "The Fundamentals of Square Dancing, Level 1" that in turn accompanies a square dance teaching series he created with Jack Murtha. Ruff teaches 35 basic square dance movements, working with a group of elementary school students who had been…

This is the text of the syllabus of Ed Gilmore's class. The text is included on the website, or you can download a ZIP file of it. Contains plenty of philosophy, discussion of the caller's role, a detailed series of suggestions about how to teach basic figures (complete with specific language that he uses), plenty of detailed dance instructions,…

Two sets of instructional cards are available online. Each set contains 35 two-sided cards, with descriptions of basic figures as well as complete dance routines.Some original sets are available for sale at Vic and Debbie Ceder's extraordinary website. Here's how they describe these materials:===C.D. Foster was one of the last great square dance…

Recorded January 23, 2011, at the Powder Mill Barn, Hazardville, CT. The clip starts with a walkthrough, followed by the dance. This footage was recorded as part of a three-camera shoot for a proposed television series, "Barn Dance!"

See the notes elsewhere comparing this dance with La Boulangère, the only dance mentioned by name by Jane Austen. Phil Jamison led a workshop session on square dances from the southern Appalachians, focusing on dances from different communities in that region. This was recorded at Dare To Be Square on November 19, 2011, at the John C.…

2015 update: Now to watch the video, you'll have to click on the YouTube icon in the lower right-hand corner of the image, or else click on this link.This instructional video was produced by Dance Through Time, and is used with permission. It shows the five figures of the Lancers Quadrille, with text and narration explaining the figures.The dances…